Recent rapid growth of the World Wide Web has allowed people with Internet access the ability to preview and compare various products using a computer system or other device for accessing the Internet, rather than physically shopping for the products. This convenience has dramatically increased the electronic commerce activity on the World Wide Web. Electronic commerce activity will continue to increase as the number of people having Internet access increases and people become more comfortable with electronic commerce.
Because the physical locations of the products ordered are not connected to the presentation of the products, electronic commerce allows number of products presented to be enormous. Uses can become overwhelmed with the quantity of products available via a single electronic commerce Web page. To make electronic shopping more convenient, electronic commerce Web pages often categorize products. For example, an electronic commerce Web page can have links to beauty products, over the counter drugs, books, herbal remedies, etc. A user can then select the general category of interest before being presented with specific products that are available for purchase.
However, because of the large number of products available and the inaccessibility of the products prior to purchase, users may not be comfortable with making purchases electronically. Therefore, what is needed is an improved on-line purchasing mechanism.